Sunday, July 16, 2017

Woo Hoo! Halfway through the month! It's late, but I've got a ton of music for you today in honor of making it half the way through July. So here goes...

1. Winter Medley: The First Snowfall Of The Winter; Winter Wonderland; Frosty The Snowman; Let It Snow; You Belong To Me; We've Got Our Love To Keep Us Warm, a big long holiday medley by The Murk Family With Accompanist-Arranger Betty Bowman from their LP Love For All Seasons (MFM Records MFM-7007, Stereo). This was one of the first songs I recorded this year for Christmas in July. These guys have four Christmas albums that I know of, so I wouldn't be surprised if this shows up on one of those, but maybe not.

2. Snowflakes by Sing & Learn from the album Seasonal Songs (Macmillan Educational Company 09015, Stereo, 1989). I spent a big chunk of today recording songs from many, many kiddie educational LPs, and this is one of those. Not the most exciting way to spend your Sunday, but it put a lot of new shares in the stack.

3. Snowfall, and old chestnut by The Singers Unlimited from their album Four Of Us (BASF MB 21852, Stereo, 1974). Always nice when someone does something different with a familiar song.

4. On A Chris-I-Mus Morning by Alan Mills from Holiday Songs (Bowmar B 2055 168, Stereo, 1966). This another one of those kiddie albums I was talking about. Designed for teachers to educate the kiddies, I guess.

5. March Of The Toys by Marty Gold And His Orchestra from 24 Pieces Of Gold (RCA Victor 2xLP VPS-6012, Stereo, 1962). Odd catalog number on this one, I wonder if it was a record club release?

6. June In January by Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra from the album The Joy Of Living (Capitol ST 1148, Stereo, 1959). Can't go wrong with Nelson Riddle. My friend Buster shared out a related EP some years ago that made me think of this record when he reshared a remastered version recently.

7. Greensleeves by The Stanley-Johnson Orchestra Featuring The Duo Harps Of Dorothy Remsen And Catherine Johnk, from the album with best cover and title of the day, Have Harp Can't Travel (Liberty LST 7118, Stereo, 1959). If you've never laid eyes on this cover, head on over to Discogs and take a look.

8. Skatin' Waltz In Swingtime by Lawrence Welk And His Champagne Music from Dance Party (Mercury MG 20092, Mono, 1956). I'm always on the hunt for new Christmas songs by Larry, and this is a good one.

9. Mary Had A Baby by Frank Boggs from the album Spirituals (Word W-3161-LP, Mono, 1963). I think I shared out a 10" LP from this same guy last year, so this is a nice addition.

10. Greensleeves (Really, again?!?) by The Ray Bryant Trio from Little Susie (Columbia CL 1449, Mono, 1960). Twice now I've put the same song in the same share on the same night. I gotta pay more attention.

OK, so everything above is from this year, but I pulled some more from the stuff I recorded last year but never shared. So let's keep going!

11. Winter In New England by Joanie Sommers, another track for you from Sommers' Seasons (Warner Bros WS1504, Stereo, 1963). Good stuff.

12. The Things We Did Last Summer by The George Shearing Quintet With Nancy Wilson from their shared LP The Swingin's Mutual! (Captiol ST 1524, Stereo, 1961). Well, I say shared. If memory serves, Nancy is only on half the tracks.

13. Parade Of The Wooden Soldiers by Esquivel And His Orchestra from his LP Strings Aflame (RCA Victor LSP-1988, Stereo, 1959). Yes, a Christmas song that wasn't on his half of that super-rare Christmas LP he shared with Ray Martin.

14. Our Winter Love by Hugo Winterhalter from his mostly-holiday LP A Season For My Beloved (ABC-Paramount ABCS-447, Stereo, 1963). At one time I had never seen or even heard of this LP, but I've got a few copies of it now. Not nearly so common as his stuff on RCA.

15. Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me by The Goodies from The Goodies Greatest (Bradley's Records (UK) BRADL 1012, Stereo, 1976). A rare appearance from a non-US LP. I try to pick up anything odd that I see and look for Christmas. This one stood out like a sore thumb.

16. Winter by The Dunster Dunces from Songs From All Corners ("Pressed but not recorded by Columbia Records" XTV 64384/64385, Mono, 1960). Homemade stuff.

17. I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm, another great track from the The Mills Brothers, this one pulled from Memory Lane (Decca DL 8219, Mono, 1956). I wish these guys had done more Christmas stuff back in their prime. There are a few tracks, but their Christmas album proper came far too late in their career.

19. December-Christmas, yet another track by the great Morton Gould from his LP Tchaikovsky: The Months, Op. 37a (Columbia Masterworks ML 4487, Mono, 1950). 1950 was only the second year that LPs were being produced, so this one has really survived a long trip into the future.

20. Baby, It's Cold Outside by Pearl Bailey-Orchestra Under The Direction Of Mitchell Ayres from the small LP Pearl's Pearls (Columbia 10" 33 RPM CL 2604 House Party Series, Mono, 1956). I think there are at least three records of hers with this same title. They're probably on three different labels though. Each one thought they were being cute and original, I bet.

And that's it. Twenty tracks for your halfway point, over an hour of music! Enjoy them, and there's still a lot to come. Be sure to come back again tomorrow.

7 comments:

I was a fan of the Goodies 40-odd years ago. Their TV shows made me literally fall on the floor laughing. A few years ago I found a DVD of some of those programs, and (predictably) wondered what it was that I found so funny. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to "Father Christmas Do Not Touch Me," a title that sounds typical of them.

Got Vinyl?

Ernie's Christmas record want list. There might be something in that stack of Christmas records you want to throw out that I need. Actually, there's a lot more that I need that I don't know about, so send 'em all to me (especially singles)! (Revised 07 December 2017)